Lusk Local V9I9-APR 2024

Local Solicitor has moved but still a great service!

Local Solicitor has moved but we are still in your corner. Our bright spacious modern office is located on the Top Floor of the Town Centre in Lusk. The office is wheelchair accessible via the lift from the lobby. There is also plenty of free parking nearby. You can find us when you scan the QR code. As a general practice law firm, Local Solicitor provides legal service in relation to a wide range of legal matters including: -

matters, Personal Injuries, Wills and Probate, Contract Law, Debt Collection, Family Law, Criminal Law, Employment Law and general legal advice. With more people on board, we can provide a broader range of services in a more efficient manner. Talk to us about your legal matter. You can contact us when you scan the QR Code.We look forward to hearing from you soon. Best wishes to you all.

Liam Fitzgerald

Louise Hogan – 0862249299 louise@irishmediagroup.ie

Sean Maguire (Publisher) - 087 915 9052 seanmaguire@irishmediagroup.ie Production

Tim Evans communitylocalsdesigner@gmail.com

Recent TV and Radio programmes have increasingly focussed on what the future may bring for our children and grandchildren. There is an increasing emphasis on Artificial Intelligence and how it can improve lives, but can it or will it ever manage to replace our community spirit? We think not, because any artificial intelligent being or machine has originally to be programmed by a human. and as we all put different, the emphases on what matters most in life will differ greatly. Now before you say we are dinosaurs who want to live in the past, just think for a moment of the effect on your community. Think of all those people in the community and voluntary sector in your area who use technology to help their group, then think of all the local charitable groups. Think of all the sporting organisations and the local retailers who support the community. Can those good people who give up their time and money to help blend us into a grouping that cares for each other in our different spheres ever be replaced? Can the love and caring attitude of those people in our areas ever be replaced by a very highly intelligent, unemotional, rational thinking machine that doesn’t understand feelings of sympathy, pity, love and empathy for a fellow man/ woman and the need to improve the lot of those less fortunate than ourselves. We think that can never be replaced. This month we are looking forward to a bright spring and an even brighter summer. We in “Local” magazines are also looking to the future with the arrival this month of our new “RUSH LOCAL” magazine which joins our other titles - Balbriggan, Donabate/Portrane, Lusk, Malahide and Swords Local, which are specifically designed to promote the activities of groups. societies, clubs, and charities across all these areas. We believe that community spirit is vital for the enhancement and growth of any area, and we will always support the people who work for these groups. We are proud to be part of this wonderful caring Fingal community and with the addition of RUSH LOCAL we will continue to promote our community spirit!

“The provision of childcare facilities must be prioritised” - Dockrell

Many parents cannot access childcare facilities in Lusk. In many cases, families are on waiting lists of up to 12 months or longer. More capacity is needed. Parents should not have to travel significant distances to find a creche or afterschool facility for their child. Childcare costs are a significant financial commitment for families. I’ve met parents all over Lusk that are paying significantly more in childcare costs than in other parts of the country. While recent investment in Core Funding (paid directly to childcare providers) and the increase in the National Childcare Scheme subsidy rate is welcome, fees remain far too high. From speaking with childcare providers in Fingal, it is clear there’s a recruitment and retention crisis in this sector. Many owners say the struggle to find staff has impacted on the quality of service they can provide. Recent surveys published show that childcare staff are actively looking to change careers, citing low pay (and having to work unpaid overtime). What I’ve done so far to help parents in Lusk:

• I have written to Fingal County Council requesting that they provide a full list of vacant sites that are earmarked as locations for childcare facilities. Many developments in Fingal were approved on the basis that creches would be built (and in operation) as part of these developments. • I have advocated on behalf of residents, and made representations to Oireachtas members, proposing that changes are made to planning rules to address these shortages of childcare facilities. I also support direct government intervention, whereby the State steps in to build and operate creches. • I am holding a public meeting in Lusk community cottage on Wednesday the 10th of April at 7pm to discuss the lack of childcare options for parents in north county Dublin. • I want to demonstrate to policy makers that there is a crisis in the provision of childcare facilities in Fingal. If you live in Lusk and are affected by this issue, please contact me (eoghandockrellfg@gmail.com) about your experience.

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

The Lusk Action Group working hard for the community!

The Lusk Action Group (LAG) held its Annual General Meeting on the 4th of March 2024, addressing various crucial matters. The agenda included selecting a new committee comprised of Chairlady Lynne Baker, Secretary Sarah McGealy, and Treasurer Alex Voronov. Our thanks to Former Chairman Colin Browne, who moved on to other functions in the community. Presenting on the day was a financial report, and the group acknowledged the passing of founding member Knel Deeb by planting a tree and installing a bench in his honour. Lusk Action Group reviewed actions from the previous year, outlining current plans and emphasizing the Lusk Vision 2030 and Town Regeneration plans. In the past year, LAG actively engaged with An Garda Siochana and Foroige to address community concerns, collaborated with McGarrell Reilly on issues related to the Lusk Village Quarter development, and continued discussions with FCC about open spaces handovers around the village. Notable initiatives by the group involved: The organizing of the Lusk Summer Festival, managing Christmas events, street lighting and Christmas carols, opposing the removal of allocated Creche facilities by the developers, appealing mobile mast placements in the village, addressing power cuts with the ESB. At the AGM, community members queried Lusk Village Quarters phasing and restaurant construction and the developer Mcgarrell Reilly’s plan of prioritizing housing over facilities. Suzanne Young briefed on Go Ahead meeting discussions around bus capacity, no-shows, and creating a QR code system for quick reporting. Colin and Lynne’s efforts in the Lusk Action Group were commended. Cathal suggested activities funding, awaiting FCC’s response. FCC’s land acquisition at Blakes Cross for traffic solutions was noted. Flooding remained problematic in the community. Looking ahead,

LAG plans to campaign for the preservation of the green space in Orlynn Park, which FCC has earmarked for development, collaborate with the Lusk 2030 Vision Plans and Town Regeneration Committees, organize the Lusk Summer Festival 2024, continue discussions with authorities on town issues, and advocate for necessary facilities before further development. The group remains committed to community engagement and ongoing efforts to enhance the quality of life in Lusk. We are still looking for new members.

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How Long Is Your Income Paid for?

By Dave Kavanagh

A question I usually include when helping clients with their finances, is, how long (if at all) their employer will pay them if they are out of work long term due to illness or injury. In some cases, it is standard and can be something like 3 months at full pay, then 3 months at half pay and then a pensionable rate of pay. For many, they are not sure and when they look through their employment contract, it states “at employer’s discretion”. Many people realised how vulnerable they were when the pandemic arrived, dropping some incomes from €600 or €800 per week down to €350 of PUP. Many don’t give much consideration to how they would cope if they suffered a loss of income for an extended period because they think “it’ll never happen to me”. Sadly, many find out the hard way following an injury or illness that keeps them out of work for months or even years. This is where having Income Protection in place, can be the difference between maintaining a level of income that keeps your lifestyle virtually unchanged, or dropping to a level that could force you to use up any savings and also get into financial difficulty.

So how does it work? Depending on your circumstances, you choose an appropriate level of cover. This is based on not exceeding 75% of your salary, less any state income entitlement. You also

choose a “deferred period” which refers to how long you are off work before payments commence. The premiums are based on factors like your age and occupation, as some occupations would leave you more at risk of not being able to work. There is also tax relief on premiums paid for income protection, which could mean up to 40% of your premium is refunded by way of adjusting your tax credits. If dropping from your current income to the current state benefit is something that would impact badly on you, perhaps it is time to consider.

Dave Kavanagh QFA has been advising people financially for over 25 years. For quotes or information (with no cost or obligation) he can of course also be contacted by you by emailing info@financialcompanion.ie or you can also use the contact form on www. financialcompanion.ie or @Davekav_advice on Twitter and Instagram.

Combined with his previous role of gym/ nutrition adviser, he regularly gives talks and workshops at seminars and events for groups, companies and government departments on financial wellbeing, positivity and motivation. As heard on RTE 2FM, LMFM and TV3.

Lusk ICA and the ‘Art of Spring Flowers’

In February a group of us had a great night when we attended the play in the Millbank Theatre, The Man Who Came To Dinner, brilliantly directed by Bernard Tonge. On International women’s day, 8 March, was hosted in the Cultural Centre, Jacinta Connolly held a wonderful workshop on “The Art of Spring flowers” We learned how to make Hanging artificial door reads, Daffodil and spring flower displays in lovely bowls and baskets. It was a very enjoyable morning spent together with the Women from Lusk Ladies Shed, and thanks

for all the support we received from Cormac McDonagh Community Officer Fingal County Council. Grateful appreciation to 4 great local women who gave their valuable time in their presentations in the afternoon. A big thank you to our IWD speakers on the day, Pauline Compton, Niamh Fay, Sharyn Hayden and Funmi Idowu. All powerful voices from community, sport, enterprise and the world of digital. Sharyn Hayden, Skinny Batch, “Innovating Enterprise”, Funmi Idowu, RCCG, “Embracing Digital Women” -Niamh Fay - Phoenix of Ballyboughal

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Boxing Club, Irish Boxing Sports Champion, “Championing Sport” Congratulations to the members of our drama group who performed a very funny sketch, written by Anne Smithers on Grianan on Sunday 7th March. The cast was Angela O’Brien, Deirdre Wilson, Mary Hickey, Mary Bermingham and Maria Baird. They were all brilliant. The audience reaction was great and the Judges’ comments were very positive. Guild meetings are held on the first Tuesday of every month at 3:30pm in the Lusk Scouts Den. Everybody is welcome.

Angela O’Brien, Maria Baird Deirdre Wilson, Mary Bermingham, and Mary Hickey.

Our four speakers Pauline Compton, Niamh Fay, Sharyn Hayden and Funmi Idowu

Maria Baird and Deirdre Wilson

A Night in the Millbank Theatre at “The Man Who Came To Dinner”

Jacinta Connolly

CLG Chloigthithe Lusca – Round Towers Lusk GAA Club

Our Weekly Lotto can be bought at .clubfunder. com/Clubs/Round Towers Lusk/lotto. The Lotto Draw takes place in the Club - Thursday @9pm. The Club would like to invite new members to play GAA – Please Get in Touch! Great Fun to be had! Check our website roundtowerslusk. ie Parents and Mentors – We need your help and support! We welcome your comments, ideas and or support that you can offer. Please get in touch through our online networks, club website and or Facebook. The Round Towers Lusk All Stars Programme is an initiative for children who ordinarily could not take part in team sports, due to having a disability or with

Autism Spectrum Disorder. Our main objective is to assist the children with ball skills, exercise, fun and to promote the ethos of inclusion in our club and community. Please come along any Friday and give it a try or should you have any queries in relation to this, please contact Joe Sullivan on 085 8562381. Our U13 Girls welcomed St. Peters, Man O War GFC & Fingal Ravens GFC to Thomas Ashe Park for a series of challenge matches in recent months. There was an abundance of talent on display amongst all the girls. Thank you to all the girls and their mentors from all of the clubs for joining us. Regarding Adult Men’s Football: our retired members and

friends evening in January of 2024 was a great success. We also held a celebration of hurling within the club. We unveiled our hurling Roll of Honour board stretching back as far as 1910. A huge thanks to the many contributors who made the event possible. A Lusk GAA Medal of 1915 has been discovered! A member came into possession of a 9ct gold medal some time ago which came to him in a batch of gold scrap from a jewellery trade customer. It is a 9ct gold medal won by Lusk GAA in 1915. It is a very beautiful medal and we do not like to see items like this scrapped as they are part of the GAA heritage.

CommunityLocals.ie

Lusk 4 Mile a huge success and well done to the Juveniles!

The recent Lusk 4 mile was a huge success. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this and to the local community and sponsors for their support. Well done to our athletes that have competed in the National Juvenile Championships and good luck to those still to compete. We can now look forward to the outdoor season that is upon us and a welcome return to training on bright mornings and evenings. Best of luck to the large group from the club that have entered the Dublin 10k in Garristown on 7th April. We will be starting Monday night track sessions at ALSAA in April and all club members are welcome.

Nicole & Annette at the Lusk 4 mile

Some of the gang at the Bohermeen Half

Maurice McDermott after the Tokyo

Bernard Kenealy at the Barcelona

Our Lusk 4 mile pacer team

Conor McGuirk leading out the 4 mile front runners

The Lusk group at the Carlingford Half Marathon

Junsa Taekwondo Club News

Olympic Year 2024 is a huge year for our Taekwondo

This is only the second time in Ireland’s history that an Irish fighter has qualified for the summer games, and we are delighted to see it’s our friend Jack Whooly from South Dublin Taekwondo. Robert Taaffe (head coach at SDTKD) and Stuart head coach at Junsa have been close friends for many years and have collaborated on many projects, from player development, coaches education, Olympic strategies to grassroots Taekwondo training.

We would like to wish our friends Jack and Robert every success at the Olympic Games. Meanwhile at home in Lusk our students have been competing and training to emulate the success of Jack and hone their Taekwondo skills to make it all the way. But Junsa offers more than just Olympic Taekwondo training. We want our students to be disciplined, motivated, hardworking, respectful but most of all kind.

Here’s a few snapshots of our young athletes/ students in action.

Coach Stuart, with our young players, Connor, Darragh and Ethan all winning gold at a recent tournament. Next stop , tournaments abroad

Class warmups are fun!!

Our intermediate girls in action, Sadie and Deanna

Daire kicking through the air

Beginners class pad kicking

Charlotte from our peewee class flying her sidekick.

The man in the centre:- Centre Referee: Jack Weldon Murphy from Junsa at a recent tournament in Belgium. It’s a very proud moment for a coach to see a student become a Centre Referee

BRIAN DENNEHY

Working hard for our community

WIN €50 !!! WIN €50

This is easy… we are offering you the chance to win €50. All you have to do is correctly fill in the crossword and discover the name of an area in Fingal spelt out in the coloured squares. Then send the completed crossword and your answer by email, with your name, address and telephone number to communitylocals@ gmail.com before 5pm on the 16th of this mnoth. The first correct entry to be drawn will win €50..Good luck

Across

1. Laugh like a witch. (6)

5. The capital city of Colombia. (6)

10. Question a soldier or spy about a completed mission (7)

11. Moved something downward. (7)

12. A place where a wild animal lives. (4)

13. False bird used by hunters. (5)

15. A flightless New Zealand bird. (4)

17. Governmental rules to regulate behaviour. (3)

19. A gesture used to convey information or instructions. (6)

21. Moves forward slowly, like a part of a foot! (6)

22. Divests of a weapon or weapons. (7)

23. Avoided something by a sudden quick movement. (6)

25. Tighten the lips before a kiss. (6)

28. Ask for as a charity. (3)

30. Traditional hand-sized Mexican filled tortilla. (4)

31. A brief records of points or ideas written as a memory aid. (5)

32. Actually existing, genuine. (4)

35. Become less intense, violent or severe. (7)

36. Enters a country to subjugate and occupy it. (7)

37. The most northern State in the USA. (6)

38. Cold dishes consisting mainly of raw or cooked vegetables. (6)

Down

2. Walking at a slow, relaxed pace. (7)

3. Make clothing by connecting yarn into rows. (4)

4. Famous Paris tower. (6)

5. Roar like a bull. (6)

6. A long dress, especially one for a formal occasion. (4)

7. Make metal become less bright. (7)

8. People or animals that have grown to full size and strength. (6)

9. Agrees that something is true, especially unwillingly. (6)

14. Entertainment held in a nightclub or restaurant while the audience eat and drink. (7)

16. A student who is training to be a military officer. (5)

18. To happen after something else, especially as a result of it. (5)

20. A cover for the top of a container. (3)

21. A small, mischievous devil or sprite. (3)

23. Dislike intensely. (6)

24. A unit used to measure the intensity of a sound. (7)

26. Worked moistened flour. (7)

27. A piquant sauce eaten with plain food to add flavour. (6)

28. A wine shop in a Spanishspeaking country. (6)

29. A person who has very great and rare natural ability, particularly in science or art. (6)

33. Little lies. (4)

34. Shaped like an egg. (4)

SUDOKU ANSWERS

Dublin’s Fairy Godmother of Pantomimes